Gov. Donald Carcieri

It seems sometimes like every Rhode Island business and political leader points to the better economy in Massachusetts. RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay looked across the state border and finds more myth than reality.

Governor Lincoln Chafee is in Chicago Monday for a symposium on education. The event is hosted by James B. Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, a group affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The institute says its goal is to strengthen public education by bringing politicians and policymakers together to discuss state-level education policy.

So now the most ridiculous and irresponsible decision of former Gov. Donald Carcieri’s tenure has come home to roost. That, of course, would be the decision to gamble $100 million or so of the taxpayers’ money on Curt Schilling’s ill-fated 38 Studios video game company.

The company is now bankrupt. As ProJo State House veteran Katherine Gregg reports, the budget proposal from Governor Lincoln Chafee, the most vocal opponent of this fiasco during the 2010 governor’s race, has proposed making the initial $2.5 million payment to bondholders.

Looking for a no-brainer issue for Rhode Island General Assembly candidates this fall? RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay has one that should resonate with taxpayers.

Even in the middle of a glorious summer, the ocean sometimes just doesn’t compensate for living in the Ocean State. This has become a season of both electioneering and discontent.

Our state’s economy is in the dumpster. As our New England neighbors are recovering from the recession, Rhode Island remains the region’s only state with an unemployment rate that remains stubbornly above the national figure.